Conservatives mount a whisper campaign smearing Khashoggi in defense of Trump  —  Hard-line Republicans and conservative commentators are mounting a dark whisper campaign against Jamal Khashoggi that is designed to protect President Trump from criticism of his handling of the dissident …

Kelly, Bolton Get in Profane Shouting Match Outside the Oval Office  —  President Donald Trump's chief of staff and his national security adviser engaged in a profanity-laced argument outside the Oval Office on Thursday, according to three people familiar with the episode.

A President Who Believes He Is Entitled to His Own Facts  —  WASHINGTON — He accepts less-than-credible denials from autocratic heads of state about nefarious acts.  He disputes the existence of man-made climate change and insists that photographic evidence of the crowd at his inauguration is fake, part of a media plot to harm him.

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Hillary?  —  She's not going away—and Democrats aren't sure what to do about it.  —  In recent months, some reporters who cover the Trump White House have received phone calls from the last person they would expect: Hillary Clinton.

Haley breaks with Trump: ‘In America, our political opponents are not evil’  —  Outgoing U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley insisted Thursday night that “in America, our political opponents are not evil,” a shark rhetorical break from her boss, President Donald Trump …

Trump administration does about-face on announcement that top HUD aide would lead Interior watchdog  —  Interior Department officials said Thursday that they did not approve the hiring of a political appointee as the agency's acting watchdog, calling the announcement of her move by Housing …

Fake intern who recorded McCaskill campaign had access to voter info, campaign says  —  A conservative activist with Project Veritas posed as an intern with U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill's campaign and had access to voter information, according to a stack of documents McCaskill's lawyer delivered …

Mueller report PSA: Prepare for disappointment  —  And be forewarned that the special counsel's findings may never be made public.  —  President Donald Trump's critics have spent the past 17 months anticipating what some expect will be among the most thrilling events of their lives …

Justice Dept. Rank-and-File Tell of Discontent Over Sessions's Approach  —  WASHINGTON — During his 20 months in office, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has swept in perhaps the most dramatic political shift in memory at the Justice Department, from the civil rights-centered agenda of the Obama era …

How Trump frames the 2018 election choice: “Democrats create mobs.  Republicans create jobs”  —  From CNN's Betsy Klein and Kevin Liptak  —  President Trump, at his rally in Missoula, Montana, framed the midterms as “an election of Kavanaugh, the caravan, law and order, and common sense.

Burlington police chief reacts to Madelyn Ellen Linsenmeir obituary: ‘I have a problem’  —  Burlington police Chief Brandon del Pozo posted this to his Facebook account on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018.  —  I have a problem with this obituary.  —  Born here in Burlington, Madelyn was the 30-year old mother of a toddler.

HBO's ‘Veep’ gag and new Joe Donnelly political ad are basically the same  —  Dwight Adams, dwight.adams@indystar.com  —  Many Hoosiers who saw the latest Joe Donnelly ad entitled “Axe” may have viewed it and thought, “well, there's a fella who likes to chop his own wood!”

Twitter has a huge Louis Farrakhan problem  —  Apparently, saying Jews are termites isn't offensive.  At least, not offensive enough for Twitter to ban Louis Farrakhan for it.  —  The Nation of Islam leader's history of blatant anti-Semitism goes back decades.

Texas Dems ask noncitizens to register to vote, send applications with citizenship box pre-checked  —  The Texas Democratic Party asked non-citizens to register to vote, sending out applications to immigrants with the box citizenship already checked “Yes,” according to new complaints filed …

PolitiFact is forced to retract a story claiming Claire McCaskill didn't say what she definitely said  —  At some point, we may have to consider the possibility that certain media fact-checkers are not so dispassionate and free from partisan biases as they'd like us to believe.

Republicans are short on policy wins so they are trying to fire up Trump's base with extreme attack ads  — With Election Day just two weeks away, GOP candidates seek to alarm a conservative base disproportionately composed of older, less-educated whites in small towns and rural areas.

Facebook hires Nick Clegg as head of global affairs  —  Facebook has hired Nick Clegg, the former UK deputy prime minister, to head its global affairs and communications team as it faces escalating problems over data protection and the threat of greater government regulation.

Rihanna Declined Super Bowl LIII Halftime Show Offer in Support of Colin Kaepernick … Rihanna stands with Kap.  The “Work” singer declined an offer to headline the Super Bowl LIII Halftime Show because she “supports Colin Kaepernick,” a source tells Us Weekly exclusively.